Talibam! & Sam Kulik

Discover AtlantASS [CD & Graphic Book]

Label: Belly Kids Country: UK

"Talibam! & Sam Kulik are proud to announce the release of their new thriller fairytale, adventure album entitled "Discover AtlantASS". The 19 track CD and accompanying 25 page comic will be made available through UK Publishers Belly Kids on the 20th February 2012. It marks Talibam!'s 25th recorded release since 2005, Talibam!'s first foray into opera, and their first record to be released alongside a comic book.

The project grew out of strange experiences the NY trio shared on a tour of Finland in 2008 and recent geopolitical events such as the 2010 BP oil spill and the controversy surrounding the so- called "Ground Zero Mosque" in lower Manhattan.

''Discover AtlantASS'' tells the story of a young teen named Franklin who gets abducted to the undersea world of Atlantis by a laid-back revolutionary jazz fish named Stinge. Together, they are ready to combat a disastrous oil spill which has nearly eradicated the vibrant community of poets, musicians, artists and fornicators who inhabit the undersea paradise.

The 80-minute opera is told in two parts and includes plenty of the wit epiphanies and genre- riddled commentary that Talibam! has become known for. Some tracks are typical of Brechtian cabaret music, while others would be more at home on a Barry White record. Ethiopian jazz and quawwali music share space with Balkan folk rhythms and forays into spoken-word no-school rap. The record is marked by a rich variety of style.

Drawn by London artist James Clapham, the full-color comic book gives "Atlantis" a psychedelic charm. His fishy denizens look like the refugees from a failed casting audition for SpongeBob SquarePants, inhabiting the oil-soaked world of Atlantis with an attitude of defiant hedonism in the face of environmental collapse. Detailing all the major events of the opera, the book brings to life the sounds and smells of Atlantan life.-Belly Kids

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